Publish a raster tile package with a different projection and custom scale as a hosted tile layer in ArcGIS Online

Summary

A raster tile layer, also known as map tile caches, is composed of cached raster tiles that are commonly used as a basemap. In ArcGIS Online, the default basemap projection is the Web Mercator, which has a fixed set of 23 scale zoom levels. This projection is not designed to minimize distortions in distance or area calculations, and its usability depends on the analysis. Refer to ArcGIS Blog: The answer to your question on Online analysis and projection for more information. In ArcGIS Pro, a basemap with different projections and scale ranges can be published to ArcGIS Online by creating a tile cache from the raster dataset information. This custom basemap is useful in optimizing visualization performance, increasing flexibility and control, and highlighting specific layers at different scales over the displayed map.

The workflow provided in this article involves creating a tile cache from a tile scheme file. The tile cache is exported as a tile package, which is then published as a hosted tile layer in ArcGIS Online.

Procedure

In this example, the IFSAR Orthorectified Radar Image (ORI) dataset from Alaska is used and the coordinate system of the raster dataset is projected using the Albers projection (WKID 102247).

1. Open the project in ArcGIS Pro.
2. Create a tiling scheme file based on the information in the raster dataset using the Generate Tile Cache Tiling Scheme tool.
1. On the Analysis ribbon tab, in the Geoprocessing group, click Tools.
2. In the Geoprocessing pane, search for and click Generate Tile Cache Tiling Scheme (Data Management Tools).
3. In the Generate Tile Cache Tiling Scheme pane, for Input Data Source, select the raster layer from the drop-down list. In this example, the raster layer named Alaska_PCS is selected.
4. For Output Tiling Scheme, click Browse and specify a location and name for the output tiling scheme.
5. For Number of Scales, specify the desired number of scale levels to be created in the tiling scheme. In this example, it is 10.
6. For Scales, specify the desired scale levels to be included in the tiling scheme. Refer to ArcGIS Pro: Parameters for more information.
7. Click Run.

3. Create a tile cache using the Manage Tile Cache tool.
1. On the Analysis ribbon tab, in the Geoprocessing group, click Tools.
2. In the Geoprocessing pane, search for and click Manage Tile Cache (Data Management Tools).
3. In the Manage Tile Cache pane, for Cache Location, click Browse and specify the folder for the output cache dataset.
4. Specify Cache Name.
5. For Input Data Source, select the raster layer from the drop-down list. In this example, the raster layer named Alaska_PCS is selected.
6. For Input Tiling Scheme, select Import scheme from the drop-down list.
7. For Import Tiling Scheme, click Browse and navigate to the location of the tiling scheme created in Step 2 from the local folder and select it.
8. For Minimum Cached Scale, select the desired minimum scale at which the tiles must be created from the drop-down list.
9. For Maximum Cached Scale, select the desired maximum scale at which the tiles must be created from the drop-down list.
10. Click Run.

4. Export the tile cache as a raster tile package using the Export Tile Cache tool.
1. On the Analysis ribbon tab, in the Geoprocessing group, click Tools.
2. In the Geoprocessing pane, search for and click Export Tile Cache (Data Management Tools).
3. In the Export Tile Cache pane, for Input Tile Cache, select the tile cache layer created in Step 3 from the drop-down list.
4. For Output Tile Cache Location, click Browse and specify the folder for the output tile cache.
5. Specify Output Tile Cache Name.
6. For Export Cache As, select Tile package (tpk) from the drop-down list.
7. Click Run.

5. Publish the raster tile package as a hosted tile layer in ArcGIS Online. Refer to Steps 3 through 12 from ArcGIS Online: Publish from a tile package for instructions.

Note:
To view the spatial reference and scale ranges for the hosted tile layer, click View next to the URL on the item details page. This information is displayed in the ArcGIS REST Services Directory pop-up window.

The image below shows the spatial reference and scale ranges of the hosted tile layer in ArcGIS Online. This hosted tile layer is published with the NAD_1983_CORS96_Alaska_Albers projection (WKID 102247) and has a 10-level resolution of scale range.